10 to fifteen vehicles were seen closing off the area. An ambulance was also on location.
To read more about the police operation click here.
“It was like in a film”, explained one neighbour living right across from the building in question. “When we came home from the cemetery at around 10.30am, they were already here, all masked and equipped with machine guns. Our children became scared all of a sudden and we decided to drive off again.”
The family was lucky, because soon after, there was no more accessing the scene, police established a security perimeter around the area.
“We were really scared when police arrived. We initially thought it was the military, and nobody told us what was going on. I then locked myself up in the bathroom. It felt like there was a terrorist in the building”, recounts one of the people living in the encircled apartment building. The person is still frustrated that authorities did not warn them about the operation or conveyed any details afterwards.
Cause for the deployment of the special unit was a resident who, according to further reports from neighbours, was already suffering from psychological problems for some time. Tensions in the building were high, apparently one person even pushed the young man down the stairs some time ago.
“He often had fits where he started screaming and making noise. It all went off again [on All Saints Day], his mother arrived and all of the screaming started once more. I don’t know who called the police and why they arrived in full force”, explained a neighbour.
They continued: “I am sure he could have been removed from the apartment in quieter manner. They launched a stun grenade and also fired shots, it was so loud and I got really scared. And now we still don’t know what happened. When I stopped and confronted one of the officers, they told me that everything was in order. Then I immediately thought ‘they shot the man’.”
Another neighbour also expressed belief that the operation might have been over the top: “Whoever called the police must have exaggerated because the neighbour already stood out before.”
In a Facebook group of residents, pictures and speculations quickly took over: was it an attempted suicide or a hostage situation? Messages also allowed one absent neighbour to see a picture of a sniper being positioned in their garden. Once they got home, the officer was already gone, however.
“I really wonder what they will do if there is ever really a terrorist in one of the apartments. All of that fuss just to apprehend one man?”, wonders another local. “I thought it was a military exercise, but then I saw that it said ‘police’ on their backs.”
So far, residents of Neunhausen are still left to wonder why the special unit was deployed to the scene. Neither police nor the prosecutor’s office have thus far released any information on the incident.
